As a method of easily manufacturing a surface-conduction type electron-emitting element at low cost, there is conventionally proposed a method like the one disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 8-171850 in which droplets of a metal-containing solution are discharged onto a substrate using a droplet discharge unit to form element electrodes and a conductive film between them, thereby manufacturing an element, as shown in FIG. 11. In FIG. 11, reference numeral 1 denotes a substrate; 2 and 3, element electrodes; 4, a conductive film; and 5, an electron-emitting portion.
An electron source substrate having electron-emitting elements arrayed in a matrix, and an image forming apparatus are formed on an insulating substrate.
As another example of manufacturing an electronic device other than the electron-emitting element and electron source by using an ink-jet method, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 8-327816 discloses a color filter manufacturing method using the ink-Jet method.
However, forming the building component of the electronic device using the ink-jet method suffers the following problems. That is, discharge of a solution is inhibited by a gas dissolved in the solution when the solution containing a material for forming the building component of the electronic device contacts air, and by bubbles and the like mixed in injecting the solution into the droplet discharge unit. As a result, the droplet discharge amount may vary. The droplet discharge direction may be influenced by this state, and the landing position when a droplet lands on the insulating substrate may offset from a design value.
In addition, the temperature of the solution changes depending on the ambient temperature of the unit to change physical properties such as the viscosity of the solution. The droplet discharge amount may vary. The droplet discharge direction may be influenced by this state, and the landing position when a droplet lands on the insulating substrate may offset from a design value.
Hence, the yield in manufacturing an electronic device is difficult to increase, and the production cost increases. In the electron source, the uniformity of the conductive thin film of an electron-emitting element is impaired to decrease the yield of an electron source substrate.
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide an electronic device manufacturing method and manufacturing apparatus which can discharge a solution to an accurate position on a substrate, and are excellent in reproducibility of the characteristics of a manufactured electronic device.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a manufacturing method and manufacturing apparatus which can discharge a solution to an accurate position on a substrate, for an electron source having a plurality of electron-emitting portions with uniform electron emission characteristics.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a manufacturing method for a high-quality image forming apparatus having uniform emission luminance.